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1. Office Expenses
Petitioner contests respondent’s disallowance of $3,545 in
deductions for office expenses incurred during 1999. These
expenses include, according to petitioner’s testimony and
receipts she produced, outlays for music CDs, videos, home
cleaning products, packs of Kleenex, napkins, a laptop computer,
computer hardware, batteries, certain office supplies, and
postage.
At trial, petitioner presented receipts and bank statements
to substantiate her office-related expenses. Some of the
receipts simply indicate the amount paid but do not contain any
itemization from which the nature of the items purchased can be
ascertained. The only available evidence to that effect is
petitioner’s own self-serving testimony, which we are not
required to accept, and which we do not, in fact, find to be
credible. See Niedringhaus v. Commissioner, 99 T.C. 202, 219
(1992). Thus, with regard to the expenses for which there are no
adequate receipts, petitioner’s claim fails for lack of
substantiation.
With respect to expenses that are supported by adequate
receipts, there are items we find to be related to petitioner’s
business and therefore deductible. These are expenses for office
supplies, totaling some $44.4 Additionally, while petitioner
4 These comprise expenses for bookmarks, markers, writing
(continued...)
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